Hello friends!

This is addressed especially to raw moms. I have e 9mo old daughetr. Unfortunately when she was 4 mo old I went through a traumatic time and I lost the milk so she's been on formula ever since. However of course I want to feed her the best...raw delicious food...well...not so delicious to her. I've always heard that babies love fruits and simple raw natural foods. Not mine. The only thing she enjoys is bananas. I trick her with some other fruits mixed with bananas. Initially she ate apples and pears if they were ripe and sweet. Not anymore. She had some berries but then had an irruption (allergy?). I give her juices...carrots and some other vegetable, apples..

What can I do? I cannot feed her banans 3 times a day. Already my family is on my case for not feeding the baby enough "nutritions" food (like meat, eggs, dairy). She looks good, she's far from skinny and full of energy. However...what have other mothers have done? Please help...my nerves are running on thin already.

Thank you for this wonderful place.
love
peace
cricri

Can you make raw nut milks for her.

They're so fussy at that age - mine didn't seem to eat at all some days, but thrived (though we we're raw).

Be true to the laws of nature, and don't allow the worries of less-informed people around you make you nervous. Moms are always under the brightest spotlight and subject to lots of criticism. Argh.

Aquadeco, thank you for your answer. I knew that they might get allergic to nuts at this age...is this true? She did get the allergy to some berry...I think it was blueberries...so I'm kind of cautious. I don't want to get a permanent allergy to any food.

Any raw vegetable (or vegetable mix) that she can have? She totally refused tomatoes and I have no other idea except cucumbers...kind of bland...I'll keep trying from time to time.

Still open to ideas moms and dads.

cricri

I have a nine month boy & every morning he shares a big glass of green smoothie with me. I make it sweet to his taste with oj and strawberries. he snacks on watermelon, figs and all fruits through out the day. for dinner something like almonds blended with carrots and a lil water. & lots of breast milk. I'm sorry you lost yours, it must have been very hard. have you tried coconut water? You could try sweetening it with agave. It sounds like she has aquired a sweet tooth from the formula, probably why she likes bananas so much. My suggestion is to have a goal of completely weening her off formula, and stick to raw, the long term affects are incredible! My 4 year raw girl begs me for nori and raw saurkraut and others are shocked. If you change there taste buds when they're young, it could last a life time. Hang in there mama, your doing great!

While my family is vegan and I strongly believe in not consuming animal products, I'd seriously consider switching from formula to somthing else asap. Many mothers who are unable to breastfeed use raw goat or even raw cow milk, which at least has the enzymes needed to help the human body digest it. Maybe even look into making oat milk or something. I love it, myself. Soak oat groats, blend and strain. Very tasty and satisfying, and generally well-tolerated. Or maybe carrot juice, which is very sweet and babies usually like it.

Also, with a good pump, time, and effort, it's entirely possible to re-lactate. It may be worth it for a raw baby to get even a little breastmilk a day for another year or more, until she can chew foods enough to not need anything else.

That being said, I'm going through this too, sort of. I'm breastfeeding my 9mo exclusively (and will probably be bf her until she's 3 years old or so), but I want to start her out right on solids with only raw. My older kids are only about 70% raw, which is fine, I guess, but today my 6yo said that he wished I fed him only raw food when he was a baby and then he wouldn't want to eat cooked food now that he's older. So I want to try keeping dd as raw as I can, for as long as I can.

I have no ideas for you, because my daughter won't eat solids yet. She's just not interested. She will gnaw on big chunks of watermelon rind, apples, nectarines, peaches, plums, carrots, etc... Some of it gets worn away while she's biting and sucking on it, so at least she's getting accustomed to different flavors and textures. You might try that, just let your baby have a chunk of something and watch her with it, see how she does. The only raw foods that are easily mashed are avocado and banana. My oldest would *only* eat avocado for ages. He also didn't want solids until he was 10 months, so I figure that dd is taking after her big brother. Many babies I know have been exclusively (no solid foods, juice, etc) breastfed until they were a year or older, and I've heard of cultures that don't give solid foods until the babies get their first set of molars.

Although, I guess it's different with formula. If a baby is going to be totally dependant on liquid food (*totally* normal at that age), maybe find something that you'll feel better about giving her.

And keep us up to date, if you discover any new raw baby food ideas!

Im wondering if it's proven safe to give Babies and Toddlers just Raw foods??
I mean if we go through detox for awhile, what will it do to a babies stomache if it's exclusivly raw?
I read this article about a Swizz couple that fed their 4-year old only raw foods and the poor thing was only 20 lbs I think.
They went to Prison for starving their child to death.
All Im saying is, that I would see a doctor first before making a decision like that for an innocent Baby.

I'd definitely agree with the recommendation to switch from formula to raw goat milk.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

plastic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Im wondering if it's proven safe to give Babies
> and Toddlers just Raw foods??
> I mean if we go through detox for awhile, what
> will it do to a babies stomache if it's exclusivly
> raw?
> I read this article about a Swizz couple that fed
> their 4-year old only raw foods and the poor thing
> was only 20 lbs I think.
> They went to Prison for starving their child to
> death.
> All Im saying is, that I would see a doctor first
> before making a decision like that for an innocent
> Baby.


I would think that as long as the baby had unlimited amounts of breastmilk, raw foods would be fine. We're not talking feeding a child only fruits and vegetables here. Breastmilk is truly complete nutrition, and if the child doesn't wean until the ages of 3-5 (as is the biological "norm" for our species, whether or not it's the cultural norm), breastmilk provides a nice nutritional cushion for the child until he or she is able to get everything from raw (or even not raw) foods.

That one family from The Garden Diet (the Taliafero's, I think) have fed a couple of children completely raw from birth (they also breastfed for a long time) and they are all thriving.

As far as detox, if a baby is fed breastmilk from a mother who is an organic raw vegan (or even just organic vegan), what does it need to detox from? It wouldn't be "toxed" in the first place.

Also, I'd never see a doctor concerning dietary advice. They know squat.

I read in a book that if you give your baby fruits first, they will not like veggies. If you start them off on veggies first, they will not develope a sweet tooth as much as if you only fed your baby fruits. Definitely feed your baby AVOCADO, it helps the brain, my son loved it every day! Have you heard of this book? "Super Baby Food"? I have never given my baby store bought jar foods, I made everything myself, and this book helped me so much!!

[www.superbabyfood.com]





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2007 03:11PM by deegarry@yahoo.com.

I would look into relactation or donor breastmilk. You don't even need a pump to relactate,

[www.kellymom.com]

Thank you all for the great advice! Sorry I desappeared for a while - we went in a short vacation finished short because we have to move out of our rented appartment.
My daughter is doing better on eating mostly raw. It seems she was so fussy about food all of a sudden because she didn't have patience with the spoon. Now I feed her snall pieces of fruit, avocado and some steamed veggies and she loves it all. Got again a bit of allergy from kiwi but otherwise she's ok. I looked on the relactation issue and I was amazed: i honestly never imagined that you could get the milk back once you weaned you little one. I'll definitely give it a try.
Raw goat milk? Cannot find in Romania. I live in a city and there's no raw milk anyway, goat or caw. I cannot find even oat. Systems are really different...agave? never tasted or heard about it...coconut..raw...fresh...nope.

Thank you all for the support. I start pumping and i'll let you know how that works. Otherwise I don;t see an alternative yet for the formula for us.

love
peace
cricri

If she likes bananas, why not make a banana formula that she can drink thru bottle or sippy cup? Also if she wants to eat mostly one fruit, I'd say ok, because they go thru those kinds of stages and it won't last forever.

Maybe get a couple books on feeding babies/children raw foods to help answer some questions, and to have some recipes just for that age.

Love,
Prism

Now I don't have children and I am not knowlagable about when to start feeding what types of food to very young babies but I am very knowlagable in diet and nutrition and have studied it on my own for about 30 years now and am vegetarian so what I liked that I read here was most of the advice but what struck a cord was
1 - Don't worry if your child doesn't eat anything for a day. I see so many mother force feeding their children to eat even when the child isn't even hungry. I liked that advice not to worry because they should never be force feed because our bodies know when we are hungry and some days our bodys naturally tell us not to eat by us not feeling hungry.
2 - Not to rely on too much fruits over veggies
3 - Be true to the laws of nature, and don't allow the worries of less-informed people around you make you nervous. Moms are always under the brightest spotlight and subject to lots of criticism. Argh. I would keep your personal habits as private as you can because the cooked food crowd seems to think you are mistreating your children by not feeding them junk foods.

About getting your youngster to enjoy raw veggies you can start by selecting the sweeter types such as red peppers, snow peas, carrots, mung bean sprouts, sprouted peas. Although they are considered starchy your child won't be having a starch overload because he/she is probably not eating starchy cooked foods and canned, sugary, fake, hydrolyzed factory formula which yes are not healthy in the long run. Anyway a wonderful way to prepare them is with a baby food grinder, it is probably preferable to get an inexpensive hand cranked model that doesn't industrially wiz the food and create alot of oxadation. Grind some ripe avocado with any of the above veggies. Try it without any added salt, trying not to encourage saltness esp at first because I have seen very young, maybe 2 year old enjoy even simple unground sliced raw veggies that I pass to them while they watch me make a salad. They're not even needing any fancy sauce, salad dressing because they don't know any different until we as adults pass on to them the 'need' to out of badly taught habits from the adults that feed us the way they eat, that is too much bad combinations (the so called balanced meal) and too excessive salting of everything.
Keep the foods simple with few ingredients. The avo makes the mashed veggies creamy and I think much better for your youngster than nuts. They seem too heavy at his age. When you do start raw nuts make sure you soak and drain them first before grinding probably in the same manner with the veggies. It is a pate. And about the saltiness don't be fooled by Braggs Aminos. It is not a healthy alternative to salt for several reasons. The label used to claim 'no msg' and they were forced to remove that claim because there is a dirivative of msg in that product. And the labeling is misleading also because when you check how much sodium is actually in each serving it appears low whereas that is the amount in 1/2 a teaspoon, and how many people use that much? The use much more than that each time they use it, probably several times a day esp since it says there is no salt added! It says, I think, it is a hydrolyzed soy product and that is where they treat soybeans with hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid? to break down the beans then remove? those acids. Doesn't sound healthy to me
If anyone would like to comment on my info feel free because I always enjoy alternative views esp about diet and nutrition.
Aloha, MauiArt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2007 04:40AM by mauiart.

cricri Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Raw goat milk? Cannot find in Romania. I live in a
> city and there's no raw milk anyway, goat or caw.
> I cannot find even oat. Systems are really
> different...agave? never tasted or heard about
> it...coconut..raw...fresh...nope.
>
> Thank you all for the support. I start pumping and
> i'll let you know how that works. Otherwise I
> don;t see an alternative yet for the formula for
> us.
>
> love
> peace
> cricri

Oh, wow, I can't imagine living in a place with no oats. No barley either? It's pretty similar to oats. I guess in Romania you have different cereal grains?

Good luck with pumping! It can take time but it should pay off in the end. Herbs like blessed thistle, fenugreek, fennel, hops and red raspberry (if available to you) can help build supply (so can oats but that won't work for you!), as can keeping super-hydrated and staying relaxed. Also, were you raw when you were nursing her before? Because I found that once I switched to raw my milk supply went way up (and I can definitely do a comparison because I've nurse continuously for 7 years and I know how much milk my body makes). You may find that you have an easier time producing milk on a raw diet.

Happyvegan,

These cereals do exist in Romania but they are not much used. In the usual city grocery shops you can only find wheat (flour mostly) and corn. Probably in the countryside I might find but for a regular supply...I doubt it would work. The same for the goat milk - it is not commercialized and especially not raw, as everything is pasteurized. I'm also not excited about feeding my baby raw milk when I don't know the hygiene of the supplier.

No, I was not raw when I nursed before, I was vegan though and had raw salads and plenty of fruit but also cooked meals. My milk went way down within 2 weeks of severe depression, I supplemented instead of allowing my baby to nurse more often (first child and not much help and advice).

I've started pumping and keeping very hydrated - some colostrum so far and my daughter is not interested yet. I'll try building up the supply first and then tempting her again. Hope it works. Between moving and everything...it might take time as you say.

Thanks again to you all. I hope I'll be in Canada next year and then I can be more serious about being 100% raw. When winter hits here there's no way in the world one can be raw here - it's tough being vegan!

great being "around" you guys!
cricri

Hi cricri,

I admire your efforts to be raw in Romania. I know from experience that it's much harder to do in an East European country. I used to spend all my holidays in Czech a couple of years ago and raw foods are very limited there as well. I live in the Netherlands and we are so spoiled for all the raw food choices. But if you really want to be 100% raw it is possible to do so no matter where you are (well almost). It's not necessary and probably much healthier to eat raw in a very simple way without all the fancy supplements and gourmet food. If you can get some basic foods like bananas and avocados you can do it. You can grow everything else you need in your appartment, even a small appartment.

Grow sunflower, buckwheat, broccoli and pea greens in trays. You can add these to lettuce and tomatoes and cucumber for salads. Or you can juice them although you would need quite a lot of them. Or you can make green smoothies with bananas.

Grow wheatgrass in trays. That will give you a green boost and all the juice you need each day. You only need a small cup of it.

Sprout alfalfa, mung and aduki beans, chickpeas and green peas, sunflower seeds and any other seed you can think of for adding to your salads.

Make sweet smoothies by adding another fruit like oranges or whatever else is available like berries in season (you might have to go out of the city to pick these yourself which would be a nice day out anyway to your bananas.

And that's it. It's a bit basic but after you've been eating raw for a while you probably won't want much variety anyway and as far as nutrition goes you will be getting everything you need and more and you will be eating a much healthier raw diet than a lot of people in Western Europe or the USA. And you'll be eating not just raw but truly living foods, picked a few moments before you eat them.

It may seem like a lot of work at first but once you've grown a few trays of your own greens it will become easy and you'll soon get into a routine of soaking and rinsing and planting. It's just a matter of getting organized, get your seeds, your trays and your soil. If you can get or make a small composter you could make your own compost from the finished trays. Maybe your husband will help you with it as well. All the information you will need for growing indoor greens and sprouting you can find on the internet. Probably someone on this board can direct you to a good website. Or you can buy a book.

Good luck, francis